Sharon L. Klein
President, Family Wealth, Eastern U.S. Region
As President of Family Wealth, Eastern U.S. Region, for Wilmington Trust, N.A., Sharon is responsible for overseeing the delivery of all Wealth Management services by teams of professionals, including planning, trust, investment management, family education, family office, and private banking services. Sharon also heads Wilmington Trust’s National Matrimonial/Divorce Advisory Practice.
Sharon has over 25 years of experience in the wealth advisory arena and is a nationally recognized speaker and author. Global media company Forbes has featured Sharon as a Top Advisor in multiple categories since 2020. In 2022 she was selected as one of the Top 40 Women Wealth Advisors in America, and a Best-In-New York Wealth Advisor. Leading business publication Crain’s named Sharon to its 2020 inaugural list of the Most Notable Women in Financial Advice. In 2018, she was honored by the UJA-Federation of New York Lawyers Division for her contributions to the trust & estates community and the community at large. Sharon is a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel, a highly selective professional organization of preeminent estate planning attorneys in the U.S. and internationally who are chosen based on outstanding reputation and exceptional skill. Sharon was inducted into the Estate Planning Hall of Fame in 2021. This honor is considered the pinnacle of accomplishment in this field. Only 125 people across the U.S. have received the award since its inception in 2004.
Sharon is a member of The Rockefeller University Committee on Trust and Estate Gift Plans, the New York Bankers Association Trust & Investment Division Executive Committee, the Estates, Gifts and Trusts Advisory Board for The Bureau of National Affairs and the Thomson Reuters Trusts & Estates Advisory Board. She chairs the Domestic Relations Committee of Trusts & Estates magazine, where she sits on the Board, and is on the Advisory Board of Family Lawyer Magazine. Sharon served on the Board of the American Brain Foundation and was a member of its Finance Committee.
Prior to joining Wilmington Trust, Sharon was Managing Director at Lazard, the internationally renowned global investment banking and management company. As Head of Wealth Advisory of Lazard Wealth Management, she led the delivery of all wealth advisory services. Before that, she headed the Estate department at Fiduciary Trust Company International. Sharon began her career as a trusts & estates attorney at Rosenman & Colin (now Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP).
Sharon, who holds U.S., British, and Australian citizenships, earned a master of laws from the Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California, Berkeley, received a bachelor of arts and a bachelor of laws from the University of New South Wales, Australia, and is a Certified Divorce Financial Analyst.